Staple fiber cutter

ABSTRACT

A commercially known fiber cutter which can be laced up for operation only when stationary or shut down is modified so that it may be laced while in operation and becomes useful with a tow which is being continuously produced as by a rayon or other continuous fiber spinning machine.

1/1971 Coffin er 83/913 X ABSTRACT 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PrimaryExaminer-Andrew R. Juhasz Assistant ExaminerW. R. Briggs A commerciallyknown fiber cutter which can be laced up for operation only whenstationary or shut down is modified so that it may be laced while inoperation and becomes useful with a tow which is being continuouslyproduced as by a rayon or other continuous fiber spinning machine.

6 li l v I Calvin M. Fox, Front Royal, Va.

FMC Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa.

Nov. 24, 1972 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Keith STAPLE FKBERCUTTER Assignee:

Filed:

Appl. No.: 309,075

Field of Search.......

Uniee Sfiafies Pafien Fox [75] Inventor:

1 STAPLE FIBER CUTTER This invention relates to apparatus for cutting atow of continuous filamentary material into staple fibers and moreparticularly to a cutter adapted for use with a tow which is beingcontinuously produced by one or more fiber spinning machines, as well aswith a tow which is pulled or formed from a previously spun stationarysupply. More specifically, the present invention involves improvementsover the fiber cutter described generally in the United States patent toKeith, U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,120, one manner of using which is describedin the patent to Glynn et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,100.

An apparatus incorporating the subject matter of the U .S. Pat. No.3,485,120 is sold commercially by Lummus Industries, Inc. under thedesignation, Fiber Cutter Mark IV. Such an apparatus involves a reelhaving a winding surface formed of a multiplicity of blades extendingbetween spaced flange forming members. The tow to be cut is wound on thereel as it rotates and after a predetermined number of wraps are builtup the outermost wrap engages a roller mounted adjacent the reel andextending between the flanges of the reel. Pressure of the rolleragainst the tow forces the innermost wrap against the edges of theblades to sever the tow into fibers of a length substantially equal tothe spacing of the blades. The reel is detachably secured to the lowerend of a vertically extending drive shaft and the cut fibers are forcedbetween the blades into a hollow centralregion of the reel from whichthey drop into a hopper or funnel secured therebelow.

With the commercial apparatus, as well as with the apparatus shown inU.S. Pat. Nos. 3,485,120 and 3,503,100, there is no apparent way ofinitially anchoring the tow to the reel while the reel is rotating.Thus, it is not practicable to use this prior art apparatus for cuttinga tow as the tow comes from a spinning machine because with the materialbeing continuously produced it is necessary that it be taken upimmediately by the reel as soon as it is engaged therewith to preventthe newly created tow from over accumulating between the spinningmachine and the cutter. Furthermore, the blades of the reel become dulland it is necessary to change-blades or more appropriately to changereels fairly often and if the apparatus is used with a continuousspinning machine it is, of course, desirable that this change be made asquickly as possible to minimize waste. The present invention provides astaple fiber cutter basically similar to that shown in U.S. Pat. No.3,485,120 but which has provision for facilitating reel changes and forenabling a tow to be initially anchored to the reel while the reel isrotating.

It is an object of this invention to provide a staple fiber cuttergenerally similar to that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,120 but havingimproved means facilitating reel changes.

A further object of the invention is to provide a staple fiber cuttergenerally similar to that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,120 but havingprovision enabling a tow to be operatively connected thereto while thecutter is in operation.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent as the description of a preferred embodiment thereof proceeds.

Referring now to the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a fiber cutter constructed inaccordance with the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view indicating the relationship betweenthe cutter reel and a pressure applying roller;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view showing the cutter modified toincorporate the present invention and indicating the manner of initiallyanchoring a filamentary tow; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view showing a tow catching notch in the cutterreel.

Referring first to the prior art structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, theapparatus comprises a stationary framework including uprights 10 and 12secured to the top of which is a heavy plate 14 supporting a suitabledrive mechanism diagrammatically indicated at 16. The drive mechanismhas a drive shaft 18 extending through an opening provided therefor inplate 14 and the hub 20 of a disk 22 is detachably secured by a bolt 24to a flange 25 provided on the lower end of said drive shaft. Suitablysecured in parallel spaced relation to disk 22 is a ring member 26 andextending radially outward between the disk and the ring member are amultiplicity of cutting elements or blades 28. Disk 22, ring member 26and blades 28 together constitute a reel generally designated 30. Thecutting edges of blades 28 lie in a circle having its center on the axisof rotation of the reel and form the winding surface of the reel. Disk22 and ring member 26 are large enough in diameter to extend beyond theblades and thus form flanges for the reel. I

Rotatable on a shaft 32 extending parallel to drive shaft 18 is a wheelor roller 34 which extends between the flanges of reel 30. Roller 34 isof a thickness only slightly less than the distance between the flangesof the reel. Shaft 32 is adjustable toward and from drive shaft 18 inany suitable manner to cause the periphery of the roller to come withina desired fixed distance of the path of movement of the blades 28 of thereel. A plurality of guides 36, 38, 40 and 42 are supported on a plate44 fixed to an angle 45 secured to upright 10 for flattening afilamentary tow 46 as it approaches reel 30. Guide 42 is provided withflanges spaced the same as the flanges of the reel whereby to limit thewidth of the tow to no more than the spacing of the reel flanges. Whilethe aforesaid U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,485,120 and 3,503,100 do not describe themanner of causing the tow to start to wind onto reel 30, according toactual practice a knot is tied in the end of the tow and the tow isinserted into a notch or slot 48 provided in disk 22 with the knotlocated above the disk and the following portion of the tow lyingagainst the winding surface of the reel. The knot is of a size that itcannot slip through notch 48 and therefore serves to anchor the tow tothe reel so that as the reel rotates, the tow will become wrapped in aplurality of layers about the winding surface formed by blades 28. Thismanner of initially anchoring the tow to the reel means that theapparatus is useful only with a tow which is taken from a stationarysupply or at best from a supply which is being fed very slowly, forotherwise the time required to tie the knot and slip the tow into slot48 would cause an undesirable build up of tow between the cutter reeland the place from which the tow was being fed. After a sufficientnumber of wraps have built up to fill the space between the path ofblades 28 and the periphery of roller 34 further rotation of the reelcauses the inner layer or wrap to be forced against the blades withsufficient force to sever the inner wrap each time a blade of the reelbecomes radially aligned with the roller, thus cutting the continuousfilament tow into staple fibers of a length substantially equal to thespacing of the cutting edges of blades 28. In practice, the reel iscaused to rotate slowly after the tow is anchored thereto untilsufficient wraps have been built up to cause the cutting to begin,whereupon the reel is stopped and the knotted end of the tow is manuallywithdrawn and discarded. Rotation of the reel at the desired cuttingspeed is then begun.

According to the prior art as illustrated in FIG. l, a ring like member50 is horizontally mounted beneath reel 30 on angles 52 and 54adjustably secured respectively to uprights l and 12. Suitably securedto member 50 is a hopper 56 for catching the cut fibers as they dropdown from a hollow central region of the reel into which the fibers areforced between the blades of the reel as they are cut. In this prior artapparatus, the lower portion of the hopper, indicated at 57, is funnelshaped and leads the fibers from the main body of the hopper to asuitable fiber conveying system or directly into a baling press. Hopper56 is provided with a door 58 and when it becomes desirable to replacereel 30 with another one rotation of the reel is stopped and theoperator opens door 58 and reaches with a suitable tool up through ringlike member 50 to engage bolt 24. Loosening of bolt 24 permits reel 30to move down onto the ring like member 50 from which it is shoved onto atable top dolly for further handling. In the actual apparatus itself,the reel weighs over 90 pounds and the blades are extremely sharp sothat removing the reel and replacing it in the confined location betweenmember 50 and the bottom of drive shaft 18 requires care and strength.

As previously indicated, the present invention involves modifications ofthe above described prior art structure and in FIG. 3 those parts whichare the same as in the prior art are given the same reference charactersas in FIG. ll. This invention includes a modification of the ring memberforming the lower flange of reel 30 and in FIGS. 3 and 4 such member isindicated at 26. Ring member 26 is provided with a notch or slot 60 inthe outer periphery thereof which preferably slopes away from a radiusof the ring with the bottom of the slot trailing the open end thereof inthe direction of reel rotation, said direction being indicated by arrow62 in FIG. 4. Ring member26' is relatively thick and preferably slot 60also slopes in the thickness direction of the member with the upper endof the slot trailing the lower end in the direction of reel rotation.The purpose of slot 60 will shortly be explained and while only one suchslot has been shown it may in fact be desirable to provide more thanone, a good number being four located 90 apart.

According to the present invention, a hopper 64 is connected to theupright 12 by a suitable hinge which may comprise a bail 66 secured tothe hopper and having arms 68 and 70 respectively carrying pins 72 and74 rotatably mounted in brackets 76 and 78 respectively secured toupright 12. Hopper 64 may be of any suitable shape and as shown iscylindrical and open at both the top and bottom. The hopper comprises areel support member 80 in the form of a ring around the top thereof andis provided with a door 82 similar to the door 58 shown in FIG. 1.Located beneath the cutter reel at a distance slightly greater than thedepth of hopper 64 is a funnel 84 having a semicircular flange 86extending around and above the upper edge thereof. The

normal operating position of hopper 64 is shown in dotted lines and isdetermined by abutment of the lower edge of the hopper against theflange 86. In this normal position, the ring of the hopper is located inalignment with and slightly below the lower flange 26' of the cutterreel. The hinged mounting of the hopper permits it to be swung from itsnormal position beneath the reel to a second position ShOVWl in fullline Where the region above the hopper is unobstructed.

With the new arrangement shown in FIG. 3, when it is desired to changereels the hopper is located in the dotted line position beneath the reeland the operator opens the door 82 and reaches up through the hopperwith a suitable tool to loosen bolt 24 holding the reel to the flange 25of drive shaft 18. Loosening of bolt 24 permits the reel to move down towhere the lower flange member 26 thereof rests on the reel supportmember 80 of the hopper, it being here noted that the fixed ring likemember 50 of the prior art shown in FIG. 1 is eliminated from the newform of apparatus shown in FIG. 3. With the reel resting on the supportmember 80 of the hopper, the hopper is swung to the full line positionwhere easy access to the reel is permitted. One or more operators maythen easily remove the reel from the top of the hopper and replace itwith another, whereupon the hopper is swung back to the dotted lineposition to align the new reel with the flange 25. In practice, a bolt24 is permanently associated with each reel and with hub 20 of the reelaligned with flange 25 of the drive shaft, tightening of the bolt raisesthe reel off of the support member 80 and snugly engages hub 20 againstflange 25. There are interengaging means, not shown, on hub 20 andflange 25 which prevent relative rotation between the reel 30 and driveshaft 18. By employing the swingable hopper for transporting the reel toand from the confined region where it is connected to drive shaft 18,the time required for changing reels is substantially reduced andfurthermore the operation is safer than with the prior art arrangement.

As previously mentioned, the cutter constructed in accordance with thepresent invention is particularly useful for cutting a tow which is atthe time being continuously manufactured, for example, is beingconstantly ejected from a fiber spinning machine. With this type ofoperation, it is not practical to tie a knot in the tow and engage theknot with the stationary reel as is done with the prior art apparatus,which as previously mentioned, is only useful with a tow which is notbeing fed toward the cutter at the time of initially anchoring the towto the cutter reel. With the present invention, when the cutter reel isto be changed as above described, the tow is cut at a point ahead of theapparatus just before the reel is stopped and the reel changingoperation is begun. During changing of the reel, the tow which is stillbeing continuously fed from the spinning machine may be allowed toaccumulate as waste. When the new reel is attached and rotation thereofhas been started, the hopper 64 is swung to the full line position torender the region beneath the reel unobstructed and readily accessibleto an operator. The continuously fed tow, indicated in FIG. 3 at 88, isthen out between the spinning machine and the place where the waste hasbeen accumulating to provide a fresh end which is then fed manuallyabout guides 36, 38, 40 and 42 and into the vicinity of the rotatingreel 30. The tow following the point where it is grasped by the operatoris aligned with the winding surface of the reel between flange formingmembers 22 and 26' and the operator holds the end portion of the towradially inward and beneath flange member 26 with a portion of the towengaged with the periphery of said member. As notch 60 in the peripheryof member 26' becomes aligned with the tow, it catches the tow and toprevent the tow from being pulled out of his hand, the operatorthereupon manually rotates the end of the tow beneath the reel about theaxis of the reel and at the same speed as the reel until the tow rapssufficiently about the winding surface of the reel to anchor the tow tothe reel. Preferably, the operator rotates the end of the tow untilsufficient wraps have built up on the reel to cause the innermost wrapto start to cut under pressure of roller 34 against the tow and the heldend of the tow is then easily pulled free and discarded. The hopper 64is then moved back to the dotted line position shown in FIG. 3.

Having thus described a preferred embodiment of the invention, what isclaimed is:

1. In apparatus for cutting a tow of filamentary material into staplefibers comprising a reel having a winding surface formed of amultiplicity of cutting elements extending radially outward betweenflange forming members and wherein means is provided for forcing againstthe cutting elements the inner layer ofa plurality oflayers of tow woundon the reel and wherein the reel is detachably secured to the lower endof a vertical drive shaft and the lower flange forming member is a ringpermitting fibers cut from the tow wound on the reel and forced inwardlybetween adjacent cutting elements to fall downward from a central regionof the reel into a hopper located therebelow; the improvement comprisingmeans mounting the hopper for movement between a first position directlybeneath the reel to a second position where the region above the hopperis unobstructed, and a support member around the top of said hopperadapted to support the reel when the reel is detached from the driveshaft whereby the hopper may be used for transporting the reel betweenits normal operating position and an easy access position.

2. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein the means mounting thehopper comprises a hinge securing said hopper to a stationary support.

3. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 including a tow catching notch inthe outer periphery of the lower flange forming member of the reel forcatching a tow held against said periphery as said reel is rotating,movement of said hopper to its said second position permitting anoperator to have access to the region beneath the reel whereby theoperator may hold the tow in the notch by manually rotating the endthereof about the axis of the reel until the tow wraps sufficientlyabout the reel to anchor the tow to the reel thus enabling the apparatusto be used for cutting a tow which is continuously being supplied by aspinning machine.

1. In apparatus for cutting a tow of filamentary material into staplefibers comprising a reel having a winding surface formed of amultiplicity of cutting elements extending radially outward betweenflange forming members and wherein means is provided for forcing againstthe cutting elements the inner layer of a plurality of layers of towwound on the reel and wherein the reel is detachably secured to thelower end of a vertical drive shaft and the lower flange forming memberis a ring permitting fibers cut from the tow wound on the reel andforced inwardly between adjacent cutting elements to fall downward froma central region of the reel into a hopper located therebelow; theimprovement comprising means mounting the hopper for movement between afirst position directly beneath the reel to a second position where theregion above the hopper is unobstructed, and a support member around thetop of said hopper adapted to support the reel when the reel is detachedfrom the drive shaft whereby the hopper may be used for transporting thereel between its normal operating position and an easy access position.2. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein the means mounting thehopper comprises a hinge securing said hopper to a stationary support.3. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 including a tow catching notch inthe outer periphery of the lower flange forming member of the reel forcatching a tow held against said periphery as said reel is rotating,movement of said hopper to its said second position permitting anoperator to have access to the region beneath the reel whereby theoperator may hold the tow in the notch by manually rotating the endthereof about the axis of the reel until the tow wraps sufficientlyabout the reel to anchor the tow to the reel thus enabling the apparatusto be used for cutting a tow which is continuously being supplied by aspinning machine.